Woman tells: How solar energy loan changed my life

A WOMAN has shared her experience on how she saw the financial inclusion programme change the life of her rural community. Microfinance client Cathy Rumints, took part in a panel discussion on the impact of financial inclusion during the three-day financial inclusion innovation summit which started yesterday in Port Moresby. She said her plan was to “bring change to my community that do not have access to financial services and products”. She attended a training course in India in 2014 to become a solar power engineer. “I have the knowledge to operate solar but to have access to them, I need money,” she said. She achieved that when MiBank introduced the “pay-as-you-go” solar energy kit loan. She managed to provide her services to her home and family. “This has helped to improve my living standards in terms of providing lighting, making cooking easier for me and allowing my children to do study well at night,” she said. She assisted rural women and formed a club to help them obtain loans. “The change has also impacted our husbands who now appreciate and respect us more,” she said. According to the MiBank’s website, the solar energy kit loan is used with its MiCash mobile wallet to enable the purchase and top-up of solar power using assistance grant from the pacific financial Inclusion programme.